Directed by Yasujiro Ozu, Good Morning is a loose remake of Ozu’s 1932 silent film I Was Born, But… where two boys deal with their father’s role while waiting for him to get a new TV so they can be part of modern Japanese society. Written by Ozu and Kogo Noda, the film is an exploration into the world of Japanese society and the pressure to be part of a newer, Westernized society. Starring Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Kuniko Miyake, and Chishu Ryu. Good Morning is a delightful and witty film from Yasujiro Ozu.
The film is about two boys who are eager to have a TV set in their home as they ask for their father if they can get one so they wouldn’t have to go the neighbors to watch TV. Unfortunately, their father isn’t interested in buying a TV set where the boys make a vow of silence as a way to get the TV. It would play to some tension between neighbors as there’s a subplot in which the dues from the boys’ mother to a chairwoman were mishandled as the women are convinced she used their dues to buy a washing machine. It’s a film that explores the emergence of the Westernization in Japan where TV sets and new electric appliances are emerging.
The film’s screenplay has this narrative where it is about the pressures to conform to this new modern society where not everyone wants to be part of. Yet, the kids wants to be part of that where they want to watch sumo wrestling and baseball while the young neighbors in their neighborhood have these things which creates problems as there’s also tension among these neighbors. Even where it involves these monthly dues for a local club among the housewives that would cause tension and some misunderstanding. Though its theme on modernism and conformity is prevalent throughout the film, Yasujiro Ozu and co-writer Kogo Noda does add humor to the story in order to make it accessible which includes a lot of fart jokes.
Ozu’s direction is very engaging for the way he presents a typical life in a neighborhood at the Tokyo suburbs where it’s this mixture of old-school architecture and the emergence of modern Japan. Yet, Ozu maintains his very simple presentation that is truly ravishing to look at in the way he shows a world that is changing rapidly. Much of it in his trademark, low-angle static shot where he doesn’t move the camera yet uses a lot of wide and medium shots to capture the action. There’s so much that Ozu showcases in the way he frames his actors and to find ways to infuse lowbrow humor and melodrama into something that feels like another ordinary day in the neighborhood.
Even in scenes at the homes of the characters to play into a lot of the drama as the boys take a vow of silence for much of the film’s third act while there’s moments where the club chairman also has to deal with her mother as that moment represents the idea of old vs. new. The sense of modernism definitely looms throughout the film as the TV set is a centerpiece to the story as it represents the arrival of the new world where the boys’ parents and their neighbors have to deal with a salesman selling modern things. It would lead to this climax on whether to keep up with changing times or to stick to what they already have and not worry about being out of touch. Overall, Ozu creates a very compelling yet charming film about the pressures of suburban neighbors in a changing world.
Cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta does excellent work with the film‘s very colorful cinematography to play into this sense of a modern Japan emerging with its vibrant colors as well as the look of its interiors and exteriors in the daytime scenes. Editor Toshiro Mayuzumi does nice work with the editing where it is very straightforward with a few rhythmic cuts to play into some of the film‘s conversation and humorous moments. Production designer Tatsuo Hamada does wonderful work with the look of the homes the characters live in as well as the apartment of the boys‘ tutor. The sound work of Yoshisaburo Senoo is terrific for the intimacy that is created as it plays to the emergence of a modern Japan. The film’s music by Yoshiyasu Hamamura is amazing for its playful and comical score that is based on orchestral string arrangements and woodwinds while it also has some serene yet somber moments for its drama.
The film’s brilliant cast includes some notable small roles from Taiji Tonoyama as a door-to-door salesman who annoys the housewives and Teruko Nagaoka as the neighbor Mrs. Tomizawa who tries to calm things down with the feuding housewives. Haruko Sugimara is terrific as Mrs. Haraguchi as the neighborhood club head who tries to figure out where the monthly dues went as she’s been suspected of mishandling things. Keiji Sada is excellent as the boys’ English tutor Heiichiro Fukui who tries to figure out what the boys is doing while finding work. Yoshiko Kuga is wonderful as the boys’ aunt Setsuko who always help out with the family as she is an object of affection for Fukui.
Kuniko Miyake and Chishu Ryu are superb as the parents of the boys with Miyake as the more stern yet loving mother and Ryu as the father who struggles with the changing times. Finally, there’s the performances of Shitara Koji and Masahiko Shimazu in their respective roles as the boys Minoru and his younger brother Isamu as two boys who just want a TV set as they take a vow of silence to get what they want with Koji as the more determined and Shimazu as the more energetic.
Good Morning is an extraordinarily rich film from Yasujiro Ozu. Thanks to its lighthearted approach towards modernism and its emphasis on family and community. The film is definitely one of Ozu’s finest films as well as one of his most accessible. In the end, Good Morning is a fantastic film from Yasujiro Ozu.
Yasujiro Ozu Films: (Sword of Penitence) - (Days of Youth) - Tokyo Chorus - I Was Born, But... - (Dragnet Girl) - Passing Fancy - (A Mother Should Be Loved) - A Story of Floating Weeds - (An Inn in Tokyo) - (The Only Son) - (What Did the Lady Forget?) - (Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family) - (There Was a Father) - Record of a Tenement Gentleman - (A Hen in the Wind) - Late Spring - Early Summer - (The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice) - Tokyo Story - Early Spring - Tokyo Twilight - (Equinox Flower) - Floating Weeds - Late Autumn - The End of Summer - An Autumn Afternoon
© thevoid99 2013
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu and written by Ozu and Kogo Noda, Early Summer is the story about a woman who gets a visit from her uncle who thinks she should get married as her family tries to find a good prospect for her while she deals with issues in her own life. The film is an exploration into the changing ways in postwar Japan as well as the rise of women taking their own roles with their lives. Starring Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima, and Kuniko Miyake. Early Summer is a glorious yet touching film from Yasujiro Ozu.
The film is about the life of a family living in suburban Tokyo where they all support each other when they get a visit from a relative. There, the man suggests that it’s time for his 28-year old niece Noriko (Setsuko Hara) to find herself a good husband as the family tries to find men who is worthy of her yet Noriko isn’t so sure about getting married. Even as she is a modern woman with friends who had gotten married but aren’t happy about it while times are also changing in Japan prompting the family to face reality of what is happening. It’s all set in a postwar Japan where the country is coming into its own again economically though the social traditions is still in tact. Yet, there’s this emerging sense of modernism that is prevalent where the ideas of tradition might fall by the wayside as Noriko is someone who represents this conflict as she wants to make her own decisions but doesn’t want to upset her parents and older brother Koichi (Chishu Ryu).
The film’s screenplay by Yasujiro Ozu and Kogo Noda take its time in the dynamic of this family where Noriko and her brother Koichi live in a home with their parents Shukichi and Shige (Ichiro Sugai and Chieko Higashiyama, respectively), Koichi’s wife Fumiko, and their sons Minoru (Zen Murase) and Isamu (Isao Shirosawa) as Noriko is a secretary and Koichi is a prominent physician. The visit from their uncle (Kokuten Kodo) who keeps asking about why Noriko isn’t married raises a lot of questions as Noriko is often asked by her boss Satake (Shuji Sano) about meeting a friend of his whom Koichi would see if he’s good enough for his sister. Yet, Noriko is confused as her friend Aya (Chikage Awashima) who is unmarried as she is also unsure if she wants to play into tradition. Then there’s Noriko and Koichi’s childhood friend Kenkichi Yabe (Hiroshi Nihonyanagi) who is a widower with a child as he lives with his mother (Haruko Sugimura) as he also helps out though he’s got moments in his life that is changing where it would also complicate things.
The script also revels in this world that is changing where Noriko’s parents are aware that having Noriko getting married would also cause a splinter in the family as they would live with Shukichi’s brother while Koichi and Fumiko would stay at the house with their kids. It would lead to this third act about the decision that Noriko would eventually make yet it becomes clear that it’s not going to be an easy one. Yet, her eventual decision doesn’t just play into this conflict about traditionalism and modernism but also about what Noriko wants in her life. Of course, the family’s reaction isn’t just mixed but also a bit shocking as they have no idea what to think but it’s also clear that there’s some things that traditionalism can’t deal with as times are changing.
Ozu’s direction is definitely wondrous in the way he captures the life of an ordinary family in Tokyo. Notably as it plays to that very evocative yet simplistic approach to the way he presents a scene. Much of it is shot in a single, static shot where the camera doesn’t move as it’s positioned in a wide or a medium shot to display what is going on in the scene. It all plays into this world that this family live in as there’s an intimacy that is prevalent throughout in some of light-hearted moments but also in some dramatic moments such as scene where Minoru and Isamo are upset that their father brought home a loaf of bread instead of the train tracks they wanted. Even in the way Ozu positions the camera for a dinner scene with Noriko, Aya, and their married friends is unique to showcase not just a sense of division that is emerging but the sense of the fact that times are changing.
Much of the way Ozu presents this conflict is told very subtly where he doesn’t do a lot of movements with the camera with the exception of a few dolly shots in a scene where Noriko’s parents are watching a play with Shukichi’s brother as well as a shot where Noriko and Fumiko are walking on the beach. Still, Ozu maintains something that is quite simple and poignant where he knows where to put the camera in a scene and to play out a certain reaction shot. Much of it has him not wanting to use a lot of close-ups by focusing more on a conversation scene as he knows where to put the actors into a frame. Especially for the film’s eventual scene where Noriko makes her decision as Ozu’s framing and the way he puts the actors into the frame becomes crucial for the film’s dramatic climax. Overall, Ozu crafts a very exhilarating yet engrossing film about a family dealing with changing times as well as dealing with a young woman’s future.
Cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta does excellent work with the film‘s black-and-white photography with the low-key look of the scenes at the beach and some of the daytime interior and exterior settings to the scenes set at night with lighting by Itsuo Takashita to help set the mood. Editor Yoshiyasu Hamamura does nice work with the editing where it‘s mostly straightforward to play out the drama and some of its humor while using fade-outs to help structure the film. Art director Tatsuo Hamada and set decorator Shotaro Hashimoto do amazing work with the set pieces such as the home the family lives in that is quite spacious but also quaint in its look.
Costume designer Taizo Saito does terrific work with the costumes as it‘s mostly straightforward with the exception of the robes that Noriko‘s parents wear. Sound recorder Yoshisaburo Seno does superb work with the sound to capture the intimacy of what goes on in the house as well as some of the scenes set in Tokyo and in the train stations. The film’s music by Senji Ito is just exquisite for its serene yet somber orchestral score to play into some of the drama without embellishing it as it is one of the film’s major highlights.
The film’s brilliant cast includes some notable small yet effective performances from Haruko Sugimura as Kenkichi’s mother who ponders about her son’s life as he is still a widower, Shuji Sano as Noriko’s boss Satake who suggests to Noriko about meeting a friend of his as a potential prospect, Kokuten Kodo as Shukichi’s brother who brings up the subject of marriage, and Chikage Awashima as Noriko’s friend Aya who ponders about the idea of marriage as she isn’t sure after learning from friends on the downside of it. Zen Maruse and Isao Shirosawa are terrific as Koichi and Fumiko’s young sons Minoru and Isamu, respectively, as they’re two boys obsessed with trains as they test the patience of their elders. Hiroshi Nihonyanagi is excellent as Koichi and Noriko’s childhood friend Kenkichi as a fellow doctor who helps the family with some problems while dealing with his own circumstances in his career.
Ichiro Sugai and Chieko Higashiyama are amazing as Noriko and Koichi’s parents in Shukichi and Shige, respectively, as they carry a sense of warmth and wisdom as two parents who want what’s best for Noriko while dealing with the fact that times are changing as it would play into Noriko’s eventual decision. Kuniko Miyake is wonderful as Koichi’s wife Fumiko as the observer of sorts in the family as she also voices her opinion on a few things while wondering the effect of Noriko’s eventual decision. Chishu Ryu is fantastic as Noriko’s older brother Koichi as a doctor who tries to see if the prospect that Satake suggests is any good while dealing with his own family as well as up holding a sense of tradition in that family. Finally, there’s Setsuko Hara in an incredible performance as Noriko as a 28-year old woman dealing with the ideas of old and new ideas as she is eager to make her own decision but wants to respect the wishes of her family as it’s a truly mesmerizing performance for the actress.
Early Summer is a majestic film from Yasujiro Ozu. Thanks to its cast and touching portrait of a family going through changing times while finding a prospective husband for their daughter. It’s a film that is truly engaging for the way it explores tradition clashing with modernism as well as the life of a family that is truly universal for an audience to relate to. In the end, Early Summer is a remarkable film from Yasujiro Ozu.
Yasujiro Ozu Films: (Sword of Penitence) - (Days of Youth) - Tokyo Chorus - I Was Born, But... - (Dragnet Girl) - Passing Fancy - (A Mother Should Be Loved) - A Story of Floating Weeds - (An Inn in Tokyo) - (The Only Son) - (What Did the Lady Forget?) - (Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family) - (There Was a Father) - Record of a Tenement Gentleman - (A Hen in the Wind) - Late Spring - (The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice) - Tokyo Story - Early Spring - Tokyo Twilight - (Equinox Flower) - Good Morning - Floating Weeds - Late Autumn - The End of Summer - An Autumn Afternoon
© thevoid99 2013
